About The Durst Organization

For nearly a century, The Durst Organization has been a family-run real estate company grounded in simple but profound principles: innovation, integrity, community and sustainability.

Today, those founding principles continue to guide The Durst Organization, prompting its leadership in environmentally responsible building practices and informing the company’s long-term approach to development.

The Durst Organization is committed to providing the highest value and best service to their tenants, residents, and partners. They establish enduring relationships by developing sustainable workplaces and homes that benefit the environment.

Opening VIP Reception
25 Oct 2015, New York City
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Conference Activity
Report
This special reception held on the eve of the Conference gave VIPs a unique opportunity to mingle in the fantastic setting of the new One World Trade Center.

VIA 57 West: Challenging Building Form and Urban Development
9 Jul 2015, New York City
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Event
Report
At the Bank of America Tower in New York City, more than 200 professionals attended “VIA 57 West: Challenging Building Form and Urban Development in Manhattan.”

Facades+ New York City
16-17 Apr 2015, New York City
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Event
Report
CTBUH Executive Director Antony Wood recently visited New York City to participate in the Facades+ conference hosted by The Architect’s Newspaper.

One World Trade Center is Now the World’s Third-Tallest Building
17 Nov 2014, New York City
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CTBUH News
The 541-meter (1,776-foot) One World Trade Center has now become the world’s third-tallest building, according to the height criteria set by the CTBUH.

CTBUH Visits 1WTC, 4WTC and 7WTC
21 May 2014, New York City
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Tour
Report
Just six months after CTBUH confirmed One World Trade Center's height, Executive Director Antony Wood and Events Manager Jessica Rinkel toured the building.

New York’s New Delirium
Oct 2013, New York City
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Tour
Report
At least five once-in-a-lifetime multi-acre projects are underway in New York. CTBUH Editor Daniel Safarik reports on his journey to investigate further.

Bank of America at One Bryant Park Tour Report
4 Apr 2011, New York City
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Tour
Report
Attendees toured the Bank of America Tower, the recipient of the CTBUH Best Tall Building Americas Award in 2010.

CTBUH Releases Tallest Buildings Completed in 2009
Dec 2009
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CTBUH Journal Paper
Trump International Hotel & Tower named tallest building completed in 2009; Successful year for the American high-rise. Over half of all buildings 200m or taller completed in the past twelve months were located in Asia, with some 36% being in China…

CTBUH 4th Annual Awards Contributor
18 Oct 2005, New York City
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Awards Event
The CTBUH 4th Annual awards ceremony and dinner was held in the Astor Ballroom of the New York Marriott Marquis Hotel.

CTBUH Lynn S. Beedle Lifetime Achievement Award, 2014
New York City, United States

CTBUH Resources Involving The Durst Organization

Award Winners & Award of Excellence Recipients

The CTBUH Awards recognize projects and individuals that have made extraordinary contributions to the advancement of tall buildings and the urban environment, and that achieve sustainability at the highest and broadest level.

Videos

Five Minutes With: Carla Swickerath
9 Jul 2018 –
Monthly Video Series;
Carla Swickerath, Studio Daniel Libeskind
Carla Swickerath, Partner, Studio Libeskind, sat down with CTBUH to discuss the design approach and urban impact of the World Trade Center complex in New York City, for which Studio Libeskind was the master planner.

"Geometry of Tall Buildings" - a CTBUH United Kingdom Chapter Event
29 Jan 2018 –
Other Videos;
Patrik Schumacher, Zaha Hadid Architects; Anil Hira, BuroHappold Engineering; Kai-Uwe Bergman, Bjarke Ingels Group, [i]et al.[/i]
The London Committee of the CTBUH United Kingdom Chapter recently hosted [i]Geometry of Tall Buildings[/i], a conversation between leading architects and engineers on the geometry of tall buildings and its impact on the design trends of the future.…

Quay Quarter Tower: Humanizing the High-Rise
30 Oct 2017 –
Presentation at CTBUH 2017 Australia Conference;
Kim Nielsen, 3XN
Quay Quarter Tower (QQT) will create a stunning new building on the Sydney skyline that sets new benchmarks in office tower design globally and creates an exemplary international commercial address. The tower is the antithesis of the prevailing…

Best of Both Worlds: VIA 57 WEST
3 Nov 2016 –
CTBUH "15th Annual Awards";
Alexander Durst, The Durst Organization; Kai-Uwe Bergmann, Bjarke Ingels Group
By incorporating the social sustainability of a mid-rise structure with the efficiency and density of a high-rise, the distinctive massing and appearance of VIA 57 WEST draw a through-line between the often competing forces that dictate the eventual…

From San Diego to Guangzhou: The Story of Marketing Tall Buildings
19 Oct 2016 –
Presentation at CTBUH 2016 China Conference;
William Murray, Wordsearch
One of the keys to attracting buyers and tenants for a contemporary tall building is a succinct marketing strategy and a robust understanding of how to brand real estate and architecture through print and digital media. With the advent of new tools,…

Monthly Video: Bjarke Ingels
15 Apr 2016 –
Monthly Video Series;
Bjarke Ingels, BIG
Bjarke Ingels, BIG, discusses new building parameters and how they have influenced the design of two of New York City's most unique projects, 2 World Trade Center and VIA 57 West.

Social Infrastructure
27 Oct 2015 –
Presentation at CTBUH 2015 New York Conference;
Bjarke Ingels, Bjarke Ingels Group
With the rise of technological solutions, the practice of architecture is often divorced from the cultural, social, and environmental contexts where we build. Buildings have become closed systems, connected to life-support machinery that compensates…

Interview: Bjarke Ingels
27 Oct 2015 –
2015 New York Conference Interviews;
Bjarke Ingels, Bjarke Ingels Group
Bjarke Ingels of Bjarke Ingels Group is interviewed by Chris Bentley during the 2015 CTBUH New York Conference at the Grand Hyatt New York. Bjarke discusses the design process for buildings in construction and the future of design.

Efficient Energy Production for High-demand Tenants of Tall Buildings
26 Oct 2015 –
Presentation at CTBUH 2015 New York Conference;
Alexander Durst, The Durst Organization
Tall Buildings in urban landscapes present a unique challenge in the field of sustainable building. These structures tend to attract a tenant base of dynamic industries such as financial services, communications, technology and digital media. Such…

The Fifth Façade: Designing Nature into the City
26 Oct 2015 –
Presentation at CTBUH 2015 New York Conference;
Richard Cook, COOKFOX Architects
New York’s most iconic buildings, the early 20th-Century high rises, were designed as aspirational symbols of urban life with carefully sculpted forms that mediate between the great height of the structure and life at street level. These stepped…

Interview: Alexander Durst
26 Oct 2015 –
2015 New York Conference Interviews;
Alexander Durst, The Durst Organization
Alexander Durst of The Durst Organization is interviewed by Chris Bentley during the 2015 CTBUH New York Conference at the Grand Hyatt New York. Alexander discusses developing the co-generation system.

Interview: Douglas Durst
6 Nov 2014 –
2014 Awards Ceremony/Symposium Interviews;
Douglas Durst, The Durst Organization
Douglas Durst is the chairman and a member of the third generation to lead The Durst Organization, one of New York’s oldest and most respected privately held owner-builder-managers of commercial and residential real estate, including One World Trade…

Monthly Video: Douglas Durst
6 Nov 2014 –
Monthly Video Series;
Douglas Durst, The Durst Organization
Douglas Durst is the chairman and a member of the third generation to lead The Durst Organization, one of New York’s oldest and most respected privately held owner-builder-managers of commercial and residential real estate, including One World Trade…

Selling Tall: The Branding and Marketing of Tall Buildings
19 Sep 2012 –
Presentation at CTBUH 2012 9th World Congress, Shanghai;
William Murray Wordsearch
Tall buildings are important brands – creating both value and recognition for the cities and countries that create them. We have a duty to ensure that the messaging, marketing and communications match the importance, complexity, professionalism, hard…

One World Trade Center: A New Icon Rises at Ground Zero
Oct 2011 –
Presentation at CTBUH 2011 Seoul Conference;
Nicholas Holt, SOM
Nicholas Holt from SOM New York presents on re-establishing the culture grid after the effects of September 11th. He speaks on the master plan, how 7 World Trade Center was built as quickly as possible and how it served as a precedent to One World…

Papers/Research

The Global Tall Building Picture: Impact of 2018
Jan 2019 –
CTBUH Journal 2019 Issue I; CTBUH Research
In 2018, 143 buildings of 200 meters’ height or greater were completed. This is a slight decrease from 2017’s record-breaking total of 147, and it
brings the total number of 200-meter-plus buildings in the world to 1,478, marking an increase of 141…

Using Height-Relative Variables To Design Tall Buildings
Jul 2018 –
CTBUH Journal 2018 Issue III; John Jory, Queensland University of Technology
This paper investigates height-variable phenomena in the urban context, and their relevance to the design and performance of tall buildings. It proposes a design approach relevant to variable conditions as encountered along height, demonstrates its…

Towards Resource-Generative Skyscrapers
Jul 2018 –
International Journal of High-Rise Buildings Volume 7 Number 2; Mohamed Imam & Branko Kolarevic, University of Calgary
Rapid urbanization, resource depletion, and limited land are further increasing the need for skyscrapers in city centers; therefore, it is imperative to enhance tall building performance efficiency and energy-generative capability. Potential…

The Global Tall Building Picture: Impact of 2017
Feb 2018 –
CTBUH Journal, 2018 Issue I; CTBUH Staff, CTBUH
In 2017, 144 buildings of 200 meters’ height or greater were completed. This is the fourth record-breaking year in a row, and it brings the total number of 200-meter-plus buildings in the world to 1,319, marking an increase of 12.3% from 2016, and a…

Ten Significant Tall Buildings, and the Significant Women Behind Them
8 Aug 2017 –
CTBUH Journal, 2017 Issue III; Leading Women in Tall Buildings
Recently, there has been a growing and overdue recognition in the architecture discipline that women are under-represented, not just in terms of leadership positions held, but also in terms of receiving credit for the work they have done. The tall…

Efficient Energy Production for High-demand Tenants of Tall Buildings
26 Oct 2015 –
Global Interchanges: Resurgence of the Skyscraper City; Alexander Durst, The Durst Organization
Tall Buildings in urban landscapes present a unique challenge in the field of sustainable building. These structures tend to attract a tenant base of dynamic industries such as financial services, communications, technology and digital media. Such…

The Rise of One World Trade Center
26 Oct 2015 –
Global Interchanges: Resurgence of the Skyscraper City; Ahmad Rahimian & Yoram Eilon, WSP Group
One World Trade Center (1WTC) totaling 3.5 mil square feet of area is the tallest of the four buildings planned as part of the World Trade Center Reconstruction at Lower Manhattan in New York City. Currently it is the tallest building in the Western…

Engineering Without Engines
26 Oct 2015 –
Global Interchanges: Resurgence of the Skyscraper City; Bjarke Ingels, Bjarke Ingels Group
With the rise of technological solutions, the practice of architecture is often divorced from the cultural, social, and environmental contexts where we build. Buildings have become closed systems, connected to life-support machinery that compensates…

The Fifth Façade: Designing Nature into the City
26 Oct 2015 –
Global Interchanges: Resurgence of the Skyscraper City; Rick Cook & Jared Gilbert, COOKFOX Architects
New York’s most iconic buildings, the early 20th-Century high rises, were designed as aspirational symbols of urban life with carefully sculpted forms that mediate between the great height of the structure and life at street level. These stepped…

New York: The Ultimate Skyscraper Laboratory
Oct 2015 –
CTBUH Journal, 2015 Issue IV; CTBUH Research
A timeline of skyscraper completions in New York uncannily resembles the boom and bust cycles of the United States in the 20th and early 21st centuries. The most active year was 1931, when the final excesses of the Roaring ‘20s were thrown skywards…

Perspectives on the Skyscraper City
Oct 2015 –
CTBUH Journal, 2015 Issue IV; New York 2015 Conference Special
To commemorate the CTBUH 2015 International Conference, some of the most prominent voices in the New York tall building industry today – all of whom are speaking at the conference – offer their perspectives on the big issues that have emerged as the…

World’s Highest Observation Decks
Aug 2015 –
CTBUH Journal, 2015 Issue III; CTBUH Research
Perhaps no element of a tall building is more closely related to the pure pleasure of standing high in the sky and taking in the view of one’s surroundings than observation decks. Often adding an important source of revenue for the structures that…

Midcentury (un)Modern
Feb 2014 –
CTBUH Journal, 2014 Issue I; Bill Browning, Alice Hartley, Travis Knop & Christopher Starkey, Terrapin Bright Green; Curtis Wayne, CB Wayne
The genesis of PlaNYC, New York City’s ambitious sustainability agenda, was the need to accommodate an estimated one million more people by 2030 within the existing urban fabric. First released in 2007 with an update in 2011, PlaNYC sets its sights…

Debating Tall: A Supertall Future in the US?
27 Jan 2012 –
CTBUH Journal, 2012 Issue I; Adrian Smith, Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture; Paul Beitler, Beitler Real Estate Services LLC
In 1990, only 11 buildings in the world could be counted as a “supertall” (defined as a building over 300 meters tall), and all but one could be found in the United States. By the end of 2011, the number of supertall buildings in the world had risen…

The Tallest 20 in 2020: Entering the Era of the Megatall
18 Jan 2012 –
CTBUH Journal, 2012 Issue I; Nathaniel Hollister & Antony Wood, CTBUH
Within this decade we will likely witness not only the world’s first kilometer-tall building, but also the completion of a significant number of buildings over 600 meters (around 2,000 feet) – that’s twice the height of the Eiffel Tower.

Case Study: One World Trade Center
Oct 2011 –
CTBUH Journal, 2011 Issue III; Kenneth Lewis & Nicholas Holt, SOM
The world knows what happened in Lower Manhattan on September 11, 2001. The twin towers of the World Trade Center and several other buildings were damaged or destroyed, and more than 3,000 people were killed. The ground smoldered for months.

New York City Scrapers
Aug 2011 –
CTBUH Journal, 2011 Issue III; Nathaniel Hollister, Jan Klerks & Antony Wood, CTBUH
New York’s dramatic skyline, over a century in the making, has for years been the envy of cities around the world. From the very birth of the tall building typology, New York has been at the forefront of the scene. Even as recently as the 1970s, New…

Revitalizing Lower Manhattan: World Trade Center in Context
Aug 2011 –
CTBUH Journal, 2011 Issue III; Jan Klerks, CTBUH
Almost 10 years after the destruction of the Twin Towers, the reconstruction of the World Trade Center site is in full swing. One World Trade Center, which is discussed in the case study paper in this Journal, will be the largest and tallest…

Planning The World Trade Center: 40 Years Apart
Aug 2011 –
CTBUH Journal, 2011 Issue III; Jan Klerks, CTBUH
Once completed the new World Trade Center, currently under construction, will grace New York well over 40 years since the completion of the original Twin Towers that soared over Lower Manhattan. A look at the planned development and the previous one…

Tallest Buildings Completed in 2009
Dec 2009 –
CTBUH Journal, 2010 Issue I; CTBUH Research
Trump International Hotel & Tower named tallest building completed in 2009; Successful year for the American high-rise. Over half of all buildings 200m or taller completed in the past twelve months were located in Asia, with some 36% being in China…

Sustainable Design in High-Rise Residential
Aug 2007 –
CTBUH Journal, Summer 2007; Dan Kaplan, FX Fowle Architects, PC
Major cities and metropolitan areas across the United States have been witnessing a renaissance in urban development. According to the report, Emerging Trends in Real Estate 2006, issued by the Urban Land Institute and PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP last…

Times Square Skyscrapers: Sustainability Reaching New Heights
Oct 2004 –
CTBUH 2004 Seoul Conference; Sudhir Jambhekar, Fox & Fowle Architects
Times Square has seen the development of more than 15 new high-rises in the past two decades. The firm that has designed the most of them, Fox & Fowle Architects, will present an overview of the recent development and highlight case studies of two…